Blog #1- Changing classroom convictions

I had always thought that in order to teach, you had to have specific lesson plans written out with a step-by-step process that must be followed. I had always assumed that every teacher has lesson plans that he or she goes over every time they present a lesson. I had these strong convictions for myself, that I too must always have these type of lesson plans written out for each and every lesson, never teaching in the moment. Since I have begun my student teaching this past month or so, my certainty in this action has subsided a bit. My teacher has unit topics and worksheets that she uses to teach from. She partakes in many read alouds that connect to the writers workshop activity, and in many cases, she uses no lesson plans, but rather ideas of how she plans for it to go.. and in most cases, it goes as planned. When I am quickly presented with mini-lessons that I have to teach to the second graders, I too have begun teaching in the moment. Partly due to the lack of planning time available for me, but also due to my teachers convidence in me to think on feet and act in the moment. Frankly, I love it. I find it cumbersome to know that I can look outside of the box with teaching my lessons and not teach to every phrase that I had written down in my lesson plans, which, until now, is all I have been doing, it is all that I have been taught to do. I believe this is a sign of personal growth because it has taught me that teaching can be more fun, I can relax and still get the material to the students in an acceptable learning environment, that I can teach on a whim... I can add and delete as I teach. I know there are times for full written lesson plans and times for partially written lesson plans. Other times call for flexibility and am confident that I can be more flexible with my future students and let go of some of my old convictions.